Coburn: Obamacare is 'A Failure Already'

Sen. Tom Coburn declared Tuesday that Obamacare is "a failure already" only a month after taking effect and will not accomplish the goal of improving access to healthcare.

"Obamacare is designed to fail," the Oklahoma Republican said on MSNBC's "Morning Joe."

"If you're really wanting to improve the access to healthcare, in terms of a way that gives people access, it's not going to accomplish it."

Saying it was "a failure already," he called it a "seven to one loser for people," referring to initial figures revealing that for every newly insured person, seven people who previously had insurance had lost coverage because of new standards laid out in the law.

"The reason it isn't going to work is because you're trying to dictate and mandate into the insurance industry something that's going to eventually collapse the insurance industry," Coburn said.

"I think we went the exact wrong direction with the Affordable Care Act. It's actually unaffordable," he added.

As an alternative, Coburn, along with Republican Sens. Richard Burr of North Carolina and Orin Hatch of Utah, released a series of proposals Monday designed to address healthcare problems.

Coburn indicated their legislative ideas, outlined in a measure they call the Patient Choice Affordability, Responsibility and Empowerment Act, "won't cost anything," and would actually save money over time.

The measure, he said, focuses on personal choice but includes "great protections that were in the Affordable Care Act, in terms of pre-existing illness."

"(We) created a way so people can have their own personal choice, make their own decisions, rather than the government making decisions for them," he said.

Coburn, a physician by trade, announced earlier this month that he plans to retire at the end of this year because of a continuing battle with prostate cancer. He had previously announced that he would not run for a third term in 2016.